Fielding a concern for Pakistan, says coach Hesson after convincing win

Pakistan are in Sri Lanka to finalise their 2026 T20 World Cup preparations. They couldn’t have asked for a better head start than a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first of three T20Is.

Win set up by team effort

It was a resounding victory that was set up thanks in large part to their bowlers, but no less to their batters. Returning Shadab Khan, mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed, and pacers Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Salman Mirza played havoc with the visitors. In front of the dominant bowling display, Sri Lankan batters could only creep to 128 runs.

The chase was equally easy for Pakistan, with openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub scoring 59 inside the powerplay. With one ball left of the powerplay, Sri Lanka drew first blood, but it was too late for them to turn the match in their favour.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson, praising the team’s impressive win, pointed out that fielding still remains an issue.

"I'd say it was a very clinical performance," Hesson said. "We had some bowlers who worked really well to get into this side. I was really pleased with the way we started with the ball. The way we attacked the stumps let us control the game. And then we were able to bring our spinners in. Outside of a little untidiness in the field, it was clinical."

Spundance for Pakistan

Pakistan will play all of their T20 World Cup games in Sri Lanka. This means they will have to bank on their spinners to handle the bulk of the work more often than not. Luckily for Pakistan, when it comes to spin bowling, they are spoilt for choices, and good choices at that. Shadab (2-25) and Abrar (3-25) collectively dismissed half the Sri Lankan team with very economical returns.

"Look, the ball spun today – it wasn't easy for batters," Hesson said. "And then you've got a couple of world-class spinners. Shadab's been out of the game for a long time [for a shoulder problem that required surgery], but we know in conditions like this, he's good. They tried to put Shadab off his lengths early, and we knew they would try to sweep, so Shadab went under the bat. It was pretty smart bowling. And Abrar has bowled nicely in these conditions. It's always nice to have a couple of attacking options."

Besides the two, Pakistan have Saim Ayub, Mohammad Nawaz, and captain Salman Ali Agha to turn to for their spin needs, and coach Hesson couldn’t be happier about that.

"We're really fortunate with the amount of spin we have. The fact that both Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz are allrounders gives us flexibility with our options," Hesson said. "And today you didn't even see the bowling of Saim Ayub, who is the No. 1 allrounder in the world [in the ICC T20I rankings], and a lot of that is because he's bowled so nicely.

"We've spent the last six months getting all those guys bowling well. So we have some tough choices to make."

The question about Babar

There still, of course, remains one big question, and that is about Babar Azam, who is reportedly part of Pakistan’s preliminary World Cup squad. Babar, who was excused from being a part of this series for his BBL commitments, is likely going to be part of the team’s plan for the World Cup, said Hesson.

"Babar provides a contrast to our batting group. We've got a lot of strokeplayers, and Babar provides the glue that brings everyone together."

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